Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are saturated fatty acids with less than 6 carbons. SCFAs are produced in the gut by microbial fermentation of dietary fibers. The most important and researched SCFAs are Acetate (Ac), propionate (Pr) and butyrate (Bu). SCFAs are predominantly found in the colon and cross the intestinal epithelium to the blood stream. SCFAs were found to be beneficial and effective in prevention of obesity, Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and insulin resistance.
The concentration of SCFAs in Stool is varied from subject to subject in dependence to the experiment parameters. The Average concentration for Acetate, Propionate and Butyrate 30, 10, 10 μM respectively.

¹³C-SCFAs can serve in various applications:

• spiking the mixture to track sample preparation errors.
• QC sample, to exclude run to run variations and to normalize the runs.
• Calibration curve to quantify SCFAs in Stool samples.